Smith Partners with Maryland to Quantify Impact

In June a joint report from the Maryland Comptroller’s Office and the Smith School found that the federal government spent $150 billion in the state in fiscal year 2024. 

Smith graduate students quantified the massive number of Marylanders employed by the federal government, finding they earn significantly more than state residents working in the private sector. The students' analyses found that, until last year, federal employment had been expanding in Maryland.

The research has facilitated a way forward for the state. "Through this partnership with the University of Maryland, we are gaining the data and insight needed to assess the risks of federal dependency and to chart a more resilient path for Maryland's future," Comptroller Brooke Lierman said in a statement.

The two phases of the experiential learning project were guided by Liu Yang, associate professor of finance and founding executive director of UMD's Federal Statistical Research Data Center, and Vojislav Maksimovic, finance professor and William E. Mayer Chair in Finance. Research professor Kislaya Prasad, who is academic director of Smith's Center for Global Business, helped organize the joint effort. 

"The students learned several very important skills and saw how those skills are implemented in a government setting," says Maksimovic.

Among them was Shrenik Kalambur, MQF '25, who served as project manager on the first phase. "Our work was threefold: data gathering and data cleaning, deriving insights from the information, and presenting our findings in a detailed report." He says employers are seeking this kind of analytical experience, and the project helped students sharpen their research, data analysis, data visualization and communication skills.

The recently completed second part of the collaboration involved examining the ripple effects of the reductions at the Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Agency for International Development. A digital dashboard for policymakers and public stakeholders allows the Comptroller's Office to better predict and understand what results from changes in federal funding and job availability. Maksimovic says moving forward, "this tool could be rolled out across the whole country."

Pranshu Sahasrabuddhe, MQF '25, developed the visualization tool for the dashboard. "I built it by first understanding what questions the Comptroller's team needed to answer, like 'how would funding changes affect specific counties' or 'which agencies received the most federal dollars?'"

"Smith faculty and students are engaging in rigorous economic analysis to help shape outcomes for Maryland," Dean Prabhudev Konana says, "including work on the proposed closure of the USDA's Beltsville Agricultural Research Center that provided critical insight and contributed to reversing a decision that would have moved hundreds of jobs and nearly $200 million in annual spending out of the state."

This research paved the way for future partnerships with the Comptroller's Office. "We are currently discussing ways to provide timely, policy-relevant data analysis that can help inform decision-making going forward," says Yang.

Yang, Maksimovic and Prasad are also overseeing student projects with other state entitites, including the Department of Labor, the Department of Veterans and Military Families, and the Maryland Aviation Commission.

Read: Impact of Federal Government Spending and Jobs on the Maryland Economy